You've all heard about it, you've probably read it, cried over it and you may have even seen the movie. Now, TALK ABOUT IT!

Join us in Figaro Café this 15th of June, Sunday at 4pm for a discussion on this highly-acclaimed novel (and much contested movie). We'll start talking about the book, then let's see where the discussion will take us. As you know, with the Shanghai Book Club, the possibilities are endless.

"Kite Runner" is now available at Figaro for a discounted price of RMB102. Thanks to Blue Fountain Books!

AN EXCERPT Page one of this best-selling novel

Here's a SYNOPSIS and REVIEW from [amazon.com] (http://www.amazon.com/Kite-Runner-Khaled-Hosseini/dp/1594480001)

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try.

The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.")

Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Read more about Khaled Hosseini here

ABOUT THE SHANGHAI BOOK CLUB Read the previous post about Book Club FAQs here